Matrim

Thanks for the comments all.. Now for a brief digression onto rising wood planning. For some reason I am using the turbocad structure better to simplify the plans. As an example looking at my existing rising wood plan I would have previously put the measurements on each section making it somewhat confusing to read. After trying (taking my piece 1 as an example, the rear piece) copied it 5 times and then split the measurements over those  5 colour coding to differentiate better between vertical and horizontal as can be seen below. I then started on my cut plan and realised even that was excessive and I could just concentrate on those measurements which would need cutting. I could then change the print scale to 2.5:1 so it was much bigger and get all the relevant measurements in two copies.
 
Piece 1 is the smallest piece and I have enough wood to start producing some testing pieces to work out how I want to cut it. You can also see I am retaining my plan to simplify the piece by removing the horizontal angle and replacing with a straight edge.
 

Thanks for the comments all.. Now for a brief digression onto rising wood planning. For some reason I am using the turbocad structure better to simplify the plans. As an example looking at my existing rising wood plan I would have previously put the measurements on each section making it somewhat confusing to read. After trying (taking my piece 1 as an example, the rear piece) copied it 5 times and then split the measurements over those  5 colour coding to differentiate better between vertical and horizontal as can be seen below. I then started on my cut plan and realised even that was excessive and I could just concentrate on those measurements which would need cutting. I could then change the print scale to 2.5:1 so it was much bigger and get all the relevant measurements in two copies.
 
Piece 1 is the smallest piece and I have enough wood to start producing some testing pieces to work out how I want to cut it. You can also see I am retaining my plan to simplify the piece by removing the horizontal angle and replacing with a straight edge.
 

Thanks for the comments all.. Now for a brief digression onto rising wood planning. For some reason I am using the turbocad structure better to simplify the plans. As an example looking at my existing rising wood plan I would have previously put the measurements on each section making it somewhat confusing to read. After trying (taking my piece 1 as an example, the rear piece) copied it 5 times and then split the measurements over those  5 colour coding to differentiate better between vertical and horizontal as can be seen below. I then started on my cut plan and realised even that was excessive and I could just concentrate on those measurements which would need cutting. I could then change the print scale to 2.5:1 so it was much bigger and get all the relevant measurements in two copies.
 
Piece 1 is the smallest piece and I have enough wood to start producing some testing pieces to work out how I want to cut it. You can also see I am retaining my plan to simplify the piece by removing the horizontal angle and replacing with a straight edge.
 

Thanks for the comments all.. Now for a brief digression onto rising wood planning. For some reason I am using the turbocad structure better to simplify the plans. As an example looking at my existing rising wood plan I would have previously put the measurements on each section making it somewhat confusing to read. After trying (taking my piece 1 as an example, the rear piece) copied it 5 times and then split the measurements over those  5 colour coding to differentiate better between vertical and horizontal as can be seen below. I then started on my cut plan and realised even that was excessive and I could just concentrate on those measurements which would need cutting. I could then change the print scale to 2.5:1 so it was much bigger and get all the relevant measurements in two copies.
 
Piece 1 is the smallest piece and I have enough wood to start producing some testing pieces to work out how I want to cut it. You can also see I am retaining my plan to simplify the piece by removing the horizontal angle and replacing with a straight edge.
 

Good to see that wood chips are flying again!

Matrim - I've just found your build and I'll be following along too.  You have some really good techniques there I think I'll steal them to help me out!  Good luck with your build

Thanks Pat.. 
 
I have to start looking at the rising wood next which will involve validating the plans (and getting some more wood supplies delivered). In the meantime I thought I would move to the rabbet. This I do admit, makes me nervous mainly because it reduces my ability to use power tools and when I start wielding tools be hand the chances of damaging something beyond repair rocket. I did try some experiments with a previous demo keel angling the keel piece and using a mill to cut the joint but that had various issues. I also considered, briefly, using the scrape technique again but that had failed me last time so in the end I went for the hand approach with several refinements to try and reduce the muck up potential.
 
I also considered doing this after the rising wood was done and attached but by adding that I would not be able to lay the keel flat so that introduced complications I wanted to avoid. If cut now I could at least keep it flat and would aim for 'most' of the cut to be done with it being easier to tidy and expand later if I had a decent start now.
 
First up I printed some more paper templates and added them to both sides before using the scalpel to remove the paper from where the rabbet would go. This was firstly to provide a reference for the cut and secondly I had some hopes that the pope might prevent any deep scarring of wood that should not be touched should a cut get away from me. I then pinned the keel very securely to the desk with a nice blank below it and my previous false keel above it. 
 

 
On the other side I had a thin blank that I then used a smaller clamp to keep the 3 pieces together. One nice though was that the rising wood actually provides the upper edge of the rabbet to if I did damage the upper edge at this point (without the rising wood attached in some areas of the keel this would make a very sharp angle which wood normally does not appreciate) then the rising wood would hide that in the completed model. (the two joints were simply because I just wanted the line and didn't care about matching pieces to the relevant keel sections)
 

My approach was to simply sharpen a hobbyist chisel and then push into the lower edge of the rabbet (at an L shape at the ends and slightly more at an upwards angle elsewhere). 
 

 
Then (not near the upper edge) but about half way down I cut an angle towards the first cut which usually generated a sliver of wood that due to the grain was easy to pop out. I could then cut again slightly higher (and near the upper edge) to increase the rabbet size. Once that was done I would have a semi reasonable v ish shape that I could then drag the corner of a chisel along to both clean the cut and enhance.
 

 
It had to be done in sections as I wanted the keel to be firmly supported (especially at the top) to minimize potential damage to the upper side of the keel.
 
 
 
 

Thanks Pat.. 
 
I have to start looking at the rising wood next which will involve validating the plans (and getting some more wood supplies delivered). In the meantime I thought I would move to the rabbet. This I do admit, makes me nervous mainly because it reduces my ability to use power tools and when I start wielding tools be hand the chances of damaging something beyond repair rocket. I did try some experiments with a previous demo keel angling the keel piece and using a mill to cut the joint but that had various issues. I also considered, briefly, using the scrape technique again but that had failed me last time so in the end I went for the hand approach with several refinements to try and reduce the muck up potential.
 
I also considered doing this after the rising wood was done and attached but by adding that I would not be able to lay the keel flat so that introduced complications I wanted to avoid. If cut now I could at least keep it flat and would aim for 'most' of the cut to be done with it being easier to tidy and expand later if I had a decent start now.
 
First up I printed some more paper templates and added them to both sides before using the scalpel to remove the paper from where the rabbet would go. This was firstly to provide a reference for the cut and secondly I had some hopes that the pope might prevent any deep scarring of wood that should not be touched should a cut get away from me. I then pinned the keel very securely to the desk with a nice blank below it and my previous false keel above it. 
 

 
On the other side I had a thin blank that I then used a smaller clamp to keep the 3 pieces together. One nice though was that the rising wood actually provides the upper edge of the rabbet to if I did damage the upper edge at this point (without the rising wood attached in some areas of the keel this would make a very sharp angle which wood normally does not appreciate) then the rising wood would hide that in the completed model. (the two joints were simply because I just wanted the line and didn't care about matching pieces to the relevant keel sections)
 

My approach was to simply sharpen a hobbyist chisel and then push into the lower edge of the rabbet (at an L shape at the ends and slightly more at an upwards angle elsewhere). 
 

 
Then (not near the upper edge) but about half way down I cut an angle towards the first cut which usually generated a sliver of wood that due to the grain was easy to pop out. I could then cut again slightly higher (and near the upper edge) to increase the rabbet size. Once that was done I would have a semi reasonable v ish shape that I could then drag the corner of a chisel along to both clean the cut and enhance.
 

 
It had to be done in sections as I wanted the keel to be firmly supported (especially at the top) to minimize potential damage to the upper side of the keel.
 
 
 
 

Thanks Pat.. 
 
I have to start looking at the rising wood next which will involve validating the plans (and getting some more wood supplies delivered). In the meantime I thought I would move to the rabbet. This I do admit, makes me nervous mainly because it reduces my ability to use power tools and when I start wielding tools be hand the chances of damaging something beyond repair rocket. I did try some experiments with a previous demo keel angling the keel piece and using a mill to cut the joint but that had various issues. I also considered, briefly, using the scrape technique again but that had failed me last time so in the end I went for the hand approach with several refinements to try and reduce the muck up potential.
 
I also considered doing this after the rising wood was done and attached but by adding that I would not be able to lay the keel flat so that introduced complications I wanted to avoid. If cut now I could at least keep it flat and would aim for 'most' of the cut to be done with it being easier to tidy and expand later if I had a decent start now.
 
First up I printed some more paper templates and added them to both sides before using the scalpel to remove the paper from where the rabbet would go. This was firstly to provide a reference for the cut and secondly I had some hopes that the pope might prevent any deep scarring of wood that should not be touched should a cut get away from me. I then pinned the keel very securely to the desk with a nice blank below it and my previous false keel above it. 
 

 
On the other side I had a thin blank that I then used a smaller clamp to keep the 3 pieces together. One nice though was that the rising wood actually provides the upper edge of the rabbet to if I did damage the upper edge at this point (without the rising wood attached in some areas of the keel this would make a very sharp angle which wood normally does not appreciate) then the rising wood would hide that in the completed model. (the two joints were simply because I just wanted the line and didn't care about matching pieces to the relevant keel sections)
 

My approach was to simply sharpen a hobbyist chisel and then push into the lower edge of the rabbet (at an L shape at the ends and slightly more at an upwards angle elsewhere). 
 

 
Then (not near the upper edge) but about half way down I cut an angle towards the first cut which usually generated a sliver of wood that due to the grain was easy to pop out. I could then cut again slightly higher (and near the upper edge) to increase the rabbet size. Once that was done I would have a semi reasonable v ish shape that I could then drag the corner of a chisel along to both clean the cut and enhance.
 

 
It had to be done in sections as I wanted the keel to be firmly supported (especially at the top) to minimize potential damage to the upper side of the keel.
 
 
 
 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

Thanks all,
 
I have just finished gluing parts 1 to 5 of the keel together with slightly coloured glue and then thicknessed the top and bottom to the correct target size.
 
Keel joint shot with an extreme close up
 

 
That will do nicely..
 
Next up I am starting tomorrow on drilling the keel joint bolts. As ever I have changed my process for that slightly to hopefully reduce my chances of destroying all the work I have done so far..

You are a man after my heart!
 
All the frigates you mention in your opening post are the same as the ones I want to develop!

Great to see you back Joss, must be great to be back at it.  Nice neat work on the stem timbers.
 
cheers
 
Pat

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

I'd like to put up a post with some work on something that isn't the keel. But this won't be it. Perhaps I should rename the log to ' Scratch building the Amphion's Keel..a lot'
 
As I said in my last update I was considering another try as I was not quite happy with the process and how close to actual size the pieces were. What follows will move to heights of detail to challenge even the most interested reader. So if you've had enough of the Keel then I recommend you await a future post (though there is a little historical paragraph at the very bottom).
 
One of my favourite sayings concerning WW2 and design was that English craftmanship consisted of making a round peg fit a square hole. German craftmanship consisted in making 30 different shaped pegs fit 30 identically different shaped holes perfectly and American craftmanship consisted of making a square peg fit a square hole 300 times a minute. It was used somewhere to describe the issues the various combatant states had with their design processes and vehicles in particular. With regard to this build I would prefer it to move closer to the American method so refined my 'process' to remove as many issue sources as possible.
 
Step 1 - Cut list 10 pieces to eventually represent keel parts 1-5  9.6*9.6mm, 4 pieces to eventually represent piece 6  9.6mm * 50mm
 
- I like to cut extra as I always lose something to a mistake and this way you don't have to recut with the large risk of not getting the size the same - something you can do if you are running the same batch through the thickness sander at the same time.
 
Step 2 - thickness the 10 pieces to 9mm * 9mm and the 4 larger pieces to 9mm depth only. 
 
- At this point I check the edges of all cut pieces against a straight edge and mark them as A, B or C. A quality is the best B is useable and C is not. 
 
Step 3 - In the previous post I had 'also' cut extra and had two pieces left over of the larger width. I cut the angle for the joint into one and then used that as the base for the angles into the next. I then scribbled some green and red ink over these two pieces which would function as my bases. 
 
- this allows me to get an identical cut each time and whereas the previous method used 3 pieces of wood to get the cut piece high enough in the vice this just needed one thus increasing ease of use, stability, accuracy and reduced error possibility.
 
My two lovely blanks red and green

 
Step 4 - Using some of the scrap (2 pieces from Step 2 were found to be C class) I tried to cut the depth in the table saw and then used the pieces from Step 3 to cut the joints. If they did not match I re-adjusted the table saw blade height and repeated (cutting of the dodgy end) until I was happy.
 
- At this point you want the table saw height locked. Under no circumstances would you want to adjust the blade height or the distance to the cut guide. If you did then Step 4 would need to be replicated and you may not have enough wood and get that height wrong and the joints are cut wrong and you have to start again....
 
Step 5 - I used the table saw to cut the joint corner depth on one side of all the pieces (including the 50mm thick ones).
 
Step 6 - I then started with piece 1 and used the green blank to cut the joint on the mill. Once complete I wrote on the joint 1RG standing for piece 1 Right joint and Green blank
 
- I then took the next piece and cut it on the red blank, marked it 2LR for 2 Left Red after I had checked the fit was good. I then repeated this for one joint for all the 1-5 pieces.
 
- The reason only 1 side was done was that if a mistake was made and the joint did not fit then the other end can be cut down and restarted to match so it is a safety valve..
 
An action shot! of writing!

 
Step 7 - Not wanting to adjust the table saw setup I used the disc sander which also can keep cuts exactly at 90 degrees and shortened the next piece accordingly. I could then use the table saw to cut the opposing sides joint depth and then repeat the exercise for the opposing side joints.
 
Step 8 - I gummed a cut out section from my plans onto the piece. Now please remember this is the opposite side to the left joint table saw cut. 
 
Step 9 - Now it was time to start on the much more complex piece 6. For this I started by cutting the upper side of the piece with the table saw being very careful to not go near the rising section (the saw naturally cuts deeper lower so you can accidentally cut into wood that should not be touched.
 
Step 10 - I used a scalpel to cut out the paper that covered the joint and then used the mill as before to cut the majority of the joint out to a depth of 4.5mm (one reason for the 9mm size is to make this cut easier) As long as the vice is set up properly you can also do the parallel section of the joint on the line.
 
Step 11 - Mills are wonderful things and I now loosened my vice and moved it about so I could do the same cut to the rising angle and the 2 other angles on the floor of the joint. When adjusting the vice I would just move the mill out of the way so I did not adjust its height (and thus get into potential issues when resetting).
 
Step 12 - The piece came out of the mill vice I used the scroll saw to cut the upper line (not close to the line itself - around 2mm off)
 
Step 13 - The piece then went back in the mill with some flat scrap under it and the mill was lowered over 9mm so I could do the same to the upper edge.
 
Step 14 - It was removed from the mill for the last time and the table saw was used to cut off the end piece
 
Step 15 - The disc sander handled the forward diagonal edge.
 
Step 15 - the piece was now placed back in the now straightened vice so its left most joint can be cut using the red blank from step 3. What's nice about this approach is that you can move the mill sideways and fit the other side whilst it is still in the vice to test the fit if you are nervous about it....
 
Below you can see piece 6 pre tidy up. It looks messier than it actual is but that, I suppose, is the power of cameras these days.

 
Step 16 - the corners and places were angles change all needed work with chisels to correct.
 
So there we have it. I like this approach as the mill is a huge amount of fun to use and it helps guarantee those right angle and exact depth cuts and thus helps counter my own lack of craftsman skills.
 
Next up I will be looking at gluing them together (I have the pieces from the previous post to be my test guinea pigs) and then once that is done thicknessing the top/bottom to size before blueing. The sides might wait until after the bolts are done - I plan on using wood as opposed to metal this time and am undecided on the order to do this currently. If I do it prior to thicknessing then the thicknessing will flatten - which I like the thought of... 
 
Pieces almost ready to be glued the only piece that still needs cutting down is piece 1 which is still oversized so it can be cut to the correct key length once all pieces are glued and any incremental sizing errors in either direction make themselves known. (Pieces are not exactly over their drawing prints in case anyone was wondering)

   
 
 
 
Finally, she is indeed a lovely ship Frolick. It may interest any trivia followers out there that in the Aubrey Maturin book 'Treasons Harbour' O'Brian has some minor criticism of Hoste (I don't entirely disagree though I think my own opinion of him is more rooted in opportunity than O'Brian's and his has a ring of some of the complaints about Nelson in it). He then goes on to describe how a Lt Charles Fielding has escaped from French prison and hid all over Europe and had finally managed to get out on the Adriatic in a small boat which is then found by the Nymphe (one of his old ships). This is interesting because the actual officer was Donat Henchy O'Brien and the ship  that found him, and the one in which he used to be on the roster of, was none other than my Amphion. He covers it in detail in his memoirs 'My Adventures during the late war'.  Just another example of Mr O'Brians skill at continually re-purposing actual historical events to provide realism in his stories. You may find it curious why he did not attribute it accordingly and I think (guessing naturally) that Hoste was one of the minor sources for some of Aubrey's actions and as this book specifically mentions one of the re-purposed activities- when Hoste (then in the Bacchante) took Cattaro in 1813 - even involving a helpful Archbishop. This was detailed in an earlier Aubrey book ('The Ionian Mission'  -  here O'Brian even mentions Cattaro but as another location and shifts some of his combatant nationalities but not most of the events themselves)  but in the current one O'Brian has Aubrey going to his fictional town version and meeting up with his fictional Pope/archbishop so I personally think he didn't want to draw so much direct attention to the Hoste and the Amphion which was best known under his command. Tying the actual O'Brien to the espionage and a wife was probably a major factor as well.
 
Anyway thanks for reading for anyone that got this far.
 
 

Time for a ramble and then an update..Years ago Henry Ford commented on failure
 
 
which is a wonderful way to approach things I think and is certainly something I use a lot in modelling. The relevance here is that I started on my keel pieces and used the approach I detailed (in considerable detail) around page 5 of this log ( urk 5 years ago).
 
Anyway I cut some joints and wasn't happy with them. Two things in particular irked me and these are admittedly both correctable. Firstly using the scroll saw to cut the shoulder tended to produce a slightly angled cut that became more obvious once the joint was made (this can be expected as the Scroll saw will cut faster as it initially contacts but the later cuts meet more resistance and the blades are thin enough that they can bend). The solution here is either a thicker blade or a slower cut with a faster saw speed. The other was that post table saw cut (close.) to the diagonal line the joint still needed lots of hand work and it proved surprisingly easy to over work it and go to deep etc. Either way I was not pleased.
 
After considering the problem I decided to try two different approaches. For the initial shoulder cut the table saw would be an adequate replacement. It can cut to a specific depth, utterly straight thus eliminating any bend. For the diagonal though I had to think of other options and in the end moved to use one of my favourite power tools - my Sherline mill specifically with an end mill. I had used this in the previous build for the complex joint at the end but that was at right angles and this most certainly was not. The main issue was that even if I managed to replicate the exact angle of the cut over every cut even a slight over cut would result in different angles and bad joints.
 
My way of compensating was as follows (and I may still change this as I am (frankly) still tempted to cut all the joints with the same angle).
 
Anyway. I used one of the better previous pieces as a base line and secured that in a vice. I then put the next piece into the joint but the wrong way round. This way the bits to be removed would stick up and I could then mill them out. The advantages here are that as long as each joint matches if I over cut one then the next will automatically be undercut and vice versa and 'should' be a good join. At least to acceptable tolerances.
 
Since this makes little sense lets cut to lots of pictures. Please note that the mill shots are of the initial pieces cut against a set angle, after these are cut following joints are made with the joint it will be used with.
 
Here is the initial method of securing the keep piece and what the mill is cutting against. The key point is not to drop lower than the table saw cut (which can be clearly seen to the left). The mill has several methods of ensuring accuracy across multiple dimensions so its a matter of how its approached as opposed to a specific way of doing so.
 

 
Next up we have shot of the joint once it is complete. 
 

 
since you still have to be careful near the shoulder itself it may still require some very minor manual touching up.
 
Here is a photo of the simple keel pieces 'complete'. You will notice piece 1 is considerably oversized. This is so that once gluing is complete I can cut that to the exact keel length and thus avoid any incremental sizing issues that might have arisen in either direction.
 

 
Another of the pieces on their sides with my simplistic joint numbering system
 

 
As a rough sizing attempt I laid it on the full size plan
 

 
Finally some detail of the joints
 

 

 
Next up I have to work on the complex joint at keel piece 6 but I am expecting to redo this for two reasons. The first is I don't think I cut enough blanks (I have 4 for the box joint and they are oversized so in case of disaster can shorten and restart) but more importantly I think I need more fat on these pieces for thicknessing to the correct size post gluing. This 'may' not be necessary but for the moment I am treating as a blind test run so see what other potential improvements/technique adjustments can be planned. I also want to re-look at that joint in turbocad. I did design it with the main joint at an angle but in the original version I kept it at right angles to simplify it. I'm not currently sure which approach to take.
 
Anyway thanks for reading!
 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

My research on the ship is still continuing but initial work has been interesting. Taking the first few Captains for the subject of this
post we start with

Richard Henry Alexander Bennett – a whig Captain and nephew of the Duke of Northumberland Bennett is a very interesting character and he is one of the most unusual examples of how heroes are a special breed by what he did to show the opposite. Now please do not mis-understand me here.  He was probably a brave and dedicated man he just consistently failed to go that extra mile and suffered in comparison with some of the more famous officers of his time.

Bennett’s father was apparently a good looking man and popular with the ladies though not rich who managed the difficult feet of
marrying a rich attractive woman whose younger sisters all married into the high aristocracy. This provided him with a powerful backer and that oh so important ‘interest’ – but not enough that he could rely on just that.

Gossip at time
I will conclude this digression on the Burrells by adding one fact more, scarcely less remarkable than those already commemorated; namely, that the charms which nature had so sparingly bestowed on the three younger sisters, who married some of the
greater nobleman in Britain, were lavished on the eldest, who gave her hand to Mr. Bennet, a private gentleman. I have rarely seen, and scarcely ever known, a more captivating woman in every point of female attraction

And
 
Lord Percy, it is said, is to be married next week to Miss Burrell. Little Dick Bennet, who married one of her sisters long ago, is a droll, little fellow, and a sort of privileged man for talking freely to the ladies. In a circle of them, the other day, Lord Percy was spoken of, and somebody said that he had the gout: “ No Madam,” said little Bennet, “ I saw him this morning at my sister Burrell’s, making great love to her, and it is astonishing what a quantity he made”

(Bennett senior)



 
Bennetts first individual command had been a 24 gun brig  - the Moselle (a French Capture).Soon after receiving her he sailed into the harbour at Toulon and not realising the French had re-taken the port was promptly captured. Not bad in itself but a week or so later Samuel Hood in the Juno did exactly the same but fought his way out. You may be accusing me of callousness and one man’s luck over another but let us move on.

Bennett quickly received command of the Amphion having been exchanged and took her out to the West Indies. Whilst in command he captured a Spanish privateer. He also bumped into Graham Moore who was impressed with Bennett and the ship

The Amphion sails very well seems to be in excellent order and is a very good cruiser, she takes her station just where I would wish her to be in the day time and takes care to close at sun set to avoid the risk of separation. I have good hopes of doing something in such a favourable cruising ground with so able a second

It should be pointed out the Moore was often full of praise the first time he met a new ship and in this case even though the ships agreed
to share prizes the night after this written the two ships separated and Moore assumed the Amphion had picked up a rich prize and decided to take it in. On the 2nd April he encountered a Spanish Brig which had indeed been boarded recently by the Amphion with a prize in company  - another brig laden with suger.

After moving on from the Amphion Bennett gained a parliamentary seat and gained another new frigate (probably connected) and was
sent to join Nelson’s fleet in the Mediterranean. This should have resulted in wonderful things as Nelson (as is well known) was desperate for frigates and it was Bennett’s chance to join that band of brothers. It did not happen though because when Bennett reached Gibralter he was persuaded by a British General that rather than carrying out his orders it would be better if he instead
couriered this General and his entourage back to Britain. Bennett was court martialled and Nelson’s dislike of his actions rings out in his letters. I do wonder if there is something else to it though as Bennett had been a midshipman under Collingwood in the Mediterranean (and would have been one of the senior Mids mentioned in Admiral Raigensfelds memoirs) so apart from having an excellent teacher would have encountered Captain Nelson. I wonder if there was a personal reason involved as well.
 
Your letter of Decr 22nd:
I only received the 26th: on my anchoring in the Gulf of Parma Sadinia. The Juno is the only frigate I have with me. She is going to Malta to get some small repairs and will then proceed to Trieste. My distress for frigates has been and still continues to be extreme, but I fear we have them not in England in sufficient numbers for the Service wanted. I never a, able to have one with the fleet as it is necessary to watch so many points.

I felt sensibly the very long time you may have been detained at Trieste. The Anson was ordered for you two months ago but she has proved so leaky that she is ordered to be  repaired and to proceed to England. The tribune went to England from Gibralter or Capt Bennet should have been ordered to attend to you, but I am sure you will find every polite attention from Captain Richardson.


Nelson
 
Bennett’s own letter to the Admiralty lists his reasons and was included in the Court Martial

February 7th 1805

Sir

I have the honor to  inform you His Majestys’s Ship under my Command with the Carvel Revoyante and Convoy arrived at Gibralter on Dec 18th where we found His Majesty’s Ships Swiftsure and Sea Horse, the first of which sailed for Lord Nelson’s fleet the 20th
 
On the 21st
I received an application from General Thomas Trigge KB requesting me to order the Sea Horse to take him to England, to which I replied it was impossible for me to take on myself the ordering one of Lord Nelson’s best frigates home but I should sail the first opportunity with the Convoy for Malta, Captain Boyle would then be left senior Officer and might act from his own judgement.
 
On the 22nd December having received information from Lt Gen Fox that the Spaniards had declared war against Great Britain on the 14th I thought it right to send the Sea Horse/ the Tribune not being ready for sea/ to give Lord Nelson the Intelligence and having ordered thirty of the 61st Regt on board the Carvel sent her with the Convoy to Malta and offered General Thomas Trigge a passage in this Ship, which he having accepted, I sailed from Gibralter on the 27th Dec and anchored here this day


He continues to state he sent another frigate as cover for the convoy. His original orders incidentally were to take the convoy to Malta
then to find Lord Nelson and put himself under his command.

Nelson was less than impressed.
 
Bennett survived his court martial (one of his judges was also an ex-Amphion captain – Admiral Fraser) and the need of the government to get votes might have caused his eventual recall to a 72. Here he performed well in the Mediterranean. At one point as Senior Captain in command of the Fama he and another ship attempted to hold a Spanish Coastal fort against St Cyr but seeing the forces arraigned against him he decided it was an impossibility and pulled his troops out. This may have been militarily a good decision if it was
not for the fact a certain Captain Cochrane in his frigate turned up and did occupy the same fort and covered himself in glory holding back a French army for weeks.
 
Oman states

Captain West handed over the task of co-operating with the Spaniards to Captain Bennett. The latter thought so ill of the state of affairs that after two days he withdrew his marines from the Trinity Fort, an action most discouraging to the Spaniards. But at this juncture there arrived in the bay the Imperieuse Frigate, with her indefatigable commandant Lord Cochrane, a host in himself for such a desperate
enterprise as the defence of the much-battered town. He got leave from his superior officer to continue the defence

So Bennett allowed Cochrane to carry out the defence but stayed in the area with boats from his and Cochrane’s ships removing the
garrison when all was almost lost.

Later Oman also notes, along with some general comments on the correctness of Bennetts decisions in pulling out Cochranes forces

Another futile charge
made by the French against the British Navy, is that the Fama shelled the beach near the Citadel while the captive garrison was marching out, and killed several of the unfortunate Spaniards. If the incident happened at all (there is no mention of it in Lord Cochrane or James) it must have been due to an attempt to damage the French trenches; Captain Bennett could not have known that the
passing column consisted of Spaniards. To insinuate that the mistake was deliberate, as does Belmas, is simply malicious.

As I said he suffers by comparison but is obviously still carrying out his job to the best of his ability

There were no command after this and apparently his politics was sufficient for a falling out with his patron and he died in 1818 (though
had a stroke 1813) in middle age a few years after his father. He never married and we possess little in memoirs concerning him apart from a single affectionate letter written to his sister Lavinia Gordon in his later years. 

For my next build I wanted to scratch build something that would mean something to me. I have done the Triton cross section and kits
before but these all took from one to two years. For a scratch built frigate I would estimate it would take me around 8 to 10 years. Since that is a considerable portion of anyone’s life I wanted a subject that would stick with
me.
 
Not having a preference I started by preparing a short list of requirements
 
 
A)    It would have to be an English Napoleonic frigate. I have always been fascinated by the period (and have re-enacted as a
Coldstream Guard at Hougomont on the anniversary of Waterloo and as an officer of the 40eme (part of Lannes’s 5th Corps) on the anniversary of Austerlitz (that was great as the re-enactment was on the site where the 5th Corps had fought and it was snowing) I was admittedly a bit of a Bonapartist on the land war. On the Sea war I am unashamedly a Royal Navy fan.
 
 
     It would have to be of English design and not a capture (see A)
 
 
C)     It would have to be smaller than most late war frigates as firstly size is an issue and secondly the early war was more
 
challenging. The British dominance in the late war was of no  interest to me 
 
D)    It would have to have a story or something of interest for me to look into
 
 
Now I then started to read around. Early candidates included
 
 
 
A)    The Shannon, should need no reason really though a personal connection for me is that I have held the sword Broke used in the
Chesapeake battle and swished it around. In the end it failed on reasons C, plus it was built of fir which I found strangely unattractive
 
 
 
    The Guerriere – almost for the same reason as the Shannon but knocked out for reasons A and B plus C
 
 
C)    The Juno – Out of all the British Captains of the war Samuel Hood is one of my heroes. The problem with the Juno was that the
 
Toulon incident was the primary one and that was not quite enough to fulfil D. If I ever do a 64 it will be Hood’s Zealous at the Nile
 
D)    The Phoebe – The fightingnest ship of the Napoleonic Wars. If you like ship to ship actions then this is the one. If I
 
ever do a second frigate it will be the Phoebe as it stands my eventually winner trumped it on D
 
So we now come to my winner. I had encountered it earlier in my reading but discarded it on C as its ‘famous’ action was a late war one at the battle of Lissa. I then encountered it again and the more I found out the more I grew interested. Its run of ‘interest’ was quite outstanding
 
First up it was designed by Sir William Rule (the junior surveyor at the time) but had been extensively re-worked by Gambier at the
Admiralty to take some more attributes of the Triton. This must have been mortifying for Rule but the resultant ship turned out well. Gardener states
 
The modifications, presumably down to Gambier’s influence, show striking similarities with ideas behind the Triton ordered a month earlier: the extra length gave the ship the greatest length: breadth ratio of any frigate so far designed by the Surveyors,
and the raked bow owes something to Triton’s most individual feature. Contrary to accepted wisdom this design-by-committee produced not a camel but a racehorse – in service the Amphion proved fast, weatherly and manoeuvrable, and was particularly good in strong winds.
 
 
. So it had an interesting origin. I was initially further put off because Goodwin describes it as a fir ship and I have already stated my
irrational dislike of fir. Fortunately (along with a mis-captioned Triton as the Amphion in his book) he was wrong and the Amphion was not fur built.
 
 
 
Next up the ship had acted briefly as Nelson’s flagship on his way to the Med.
 
I then found it had also transported the Archduke Charles on an abortive trip to Spain. Charles was the Austrians best fighting general so that was in itself an interesting point for me.
 
It was also involved in the treasure ship action where four British frigates intercepted the Spanish treasure fleet under Graham Moore. The
Amphion was fighting the Mercedes when she blew up possibly due to fire. So she now could be placed at a pivotal point in the war playing an important part.
 
Moving on she was involved in the chase of the combined fleet to the Caribbean and back though being detached just before Trafalgar.
 
Finally she was Hoste’s flagship at the battle of Lissa of which plenty has been written.
 
All the above gave me plenty of interest but the decider was where she was built. The Amphion matched my pointy A because she was designed to be smaller than most standard frigates because the Admiralty wanted to use shipyards outside of the existing range. I also knew she was built in Essex but just assumed this meant a yard Southend way or on the Thames. When I eventually
checked her actual build location (at Mistley) she was actually built on the Stour on the border between Essex and Suffolk very close to Manningtree and Capel. Most of my mother’s family come from (and still live in ) this very region. The possibility of my relatives knowing about her or even working on her were more than any other ship I could think of.
 
 
The Amphion at Lissa - 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

Woo hoo building again. Just about coping with shifting the office into the house so can build again. Returned to the stem with some approach adjustments. What I'm doing now is to try to use extra lines outside the object to support the cutting of the joints. If I make the joint parallel to the cut box then I don't have to concern myself with more than one angle and it makes my mill very useful as that gives me a solid angle to ensure right angles and thus the correct angle. The other change is that I am now using the scroll saw for the curved lines but attempting to cut at the line. It's proving easier than I thought which again keeps things 'to shape'
 
So starting with my cut plan for the middle stem
 

I cut a blank of wood with the table saw and thickness it to size ensuring I have 2 right angled edges. I then align the bottom and right (or top left etc) to the good edges and then use a set square to make sure the eventual target cut line is correct.
 

I then trim of excess wood to the cut line as I dont want the mill to dig in/overwork or cut our chunks
 

Since the middle step has 2 joints I used the straight bottom (already) for joint 1 (which can be seen to the left). I then cut along the blue line to get a second straight edge allowing me to mill the second joint. In this case using the lower stem to roughly validate the joint.
 

Finally the sides are cut with the scroll saw.
 


 

Great. Now I am going to re-do the lower stem as I'm not happy with the box joint (there's a larger gap than I'm happy with) but will re-use the same methodology that only started working well with the piece above.

Above is the new cut template. You will notice the right joint is following the parallel plan, the extended blue lines are because this piece needs two templates (the other reversed) as the under section needs milling and the blue lines allow me to validate that the two templates align.
 
After that I have to consider how to taper these as it looks like it has a taper fore and aft and up and down which looks a bit of a bugger to do..
 
 

Good grief time flies... I'm still workshop less so looking with fondness at my on hold plans for making sawdust..
 
Anyway I just wanted to note, as it's relevant to the Amphion, that one of the most famous portraits of Sir William Hoste is now thought not to be him but a Captain John Walter Roberts instead. After finding this out it does make sense as there is other portraits of Hosts as a midshipman and captain and both those portraits show recognisably the same person. This particular mis-represented portrait would sit in between the two and shows someone that does not match (so much) the other two.
 
This being the internet there are still hundred of hits of the wrong portrait being Hoste though especially as it was the best painted (and is also slapped on the front cover of Hoste's best biography 'Remember Nelson' by Tom Pocock.

For those interested the Greenwich text is as follows (copied in case link disappears but link is also at bottom so you can go to the original)
 
 
rmg Roberts painting
 

Phew, thanks for taking the effort as I love your build
 
Joss